Norway literally has more money than it knows what to do with, for now…

posted at 8:41 pm on September 9, 2013 by Erika Johnsen

…And perhaps the most unusual part of that is, as Jazz noted in August, is that even with all of that cash in their coffers they’re actually eschewing the Labor-party government of the past eight years and are voting in their version of a conservative coalition government in their national elections right now.

Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg — nicknamed “Iron Erna” — will become Norway’s new prime minister as the leader of a center-right coalition government likely including an anti-immigration party.

Preliminary results from the oil-rich Nordic country’s parliamentary elections shows the Conservative Party got 26.8 percent of votes, the best result for the party in 28 years. Solberg, who will be Norway’s second female prime minister after Gro Harlem Brundtland, thanked the voters Monday for a historic victory.

“The voters had the choice between 12 years of red-green government or a new government with new ideas and new solutions,” Solberg said. …

The discovery of oil and gas in Norway’s waters in the 1960s turned the Scandinavian nation into one of the richest in the world, with a strong welfare system and a high living standard. The oil wealth helped it withstand Europe’s financial crisis and retain low unemployment throughout Stoltenberg’s years in power. Still, the Conservative Party has managed to attract votes amid pledges to increase the availability of private health care and cut taxes on assets over $140,000.

Although much of Europe continues to stagger beneath the tremendous weight of their own imploding welfare states and the accompanying fiscal and economic burdens, borne of their very progressive- and labor-influenced state-spending policies, Norway is still a relative island of plenty amidst that sea of European debt. Norway, too, has an extravagant welfare state, but the constant stream of wealth that comes from their nationalized system of tapping their vast reserves of oil and gas mean that they have a robust revenue stream that enables them to keep the welfare state going.

Norweigens take a lot of pride in their economic inclusiveness, and they boast some of the highest living standards in Europe with an unemployment rate of only 3.5 percent and a relatively (and I do mean relatively) good GDP growth rate of 3 percent in 2012. That 3 percent, however, is still a slowdown, and the conservative-minded politicians in the running want to avoid injecting too much public spending into the economic in the misbegotten attempt to spur growth as well as keep taxes low and business-friendly. What’s more, as the United States’ shale oil-and-gas boom continues to grow and as countries like Germany and the United Kingdom think about fracking for themselves, using oil riches to cover a full third of your country’s revenue stream isn’t necessarily a dependable plan for the future, and it sounds like they’re at least taking small steps toward a more definitely sustainable public-spending plan for the long term.

On a semi-related note concerning energy riches and Scandinavia, President Obama stopped in Sweden on his way to Russia last week and hailed the tiny country as an example to us all in bringing about the cleaner, greener future to which we should all be aspiring: “Sweden is obviously an extraordinary leader when it comes to tackling climate change and increasing energy efficiency, and developing new technologies. And the goal of achieving a carbon-neutral economy is remarkable, and Sweden is well on its way. We deeply respect and admire that and think we can learn from it.” That prompted RealClearEnergy‘s editors to wonder: …Er, Obama does know that Sweden is 40 percent nuclear, right?

Sweden does indeed have the lowest rate of carbon emissions in Europe. What the President didn’t mention is that Sweden gets 40 percent of its electricity from nuclear energy, second in Europe only to France and tiny Lithuania. In a country the size of California with the population of North Carolina, the Swedes have 10 operating reactors and two held in reserve. Combined with its ample hydro, this gives Sweden 90 percent “clean energy” with almost no fossil fuels. As for solar panels and windmills, there aren’t any in sight. Of course no one in the press is mentioning this.

Blowback

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Dog Eater doesn’t know anything about Sweden, so why even ask. He probably made a callow joke about the way they talk “Erkta berga bergen berga”, noticed no one was laughing, and proceeded to say how much he loved the Minnesota Vikings.

(Reuters) – Norway’s opposition Conservatives, promising tax cuts and better healthcare, won elections in a landslide on Monday but faced tough coalition talks with a populist party that wants to spend more of the accumulated oil riches and curb immigration.
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Sweden does indeed have the lowest rate of carbon emissions in Europe. What the President didn’t mention is that Sweden gets 40 percent of its electricity from nuclear energy
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Huge numbers of people from Norway log on and or post to http://www.wattsupwiththat.com they know the cold is coming and they are not going to freeze to death for the Al Gore/Commie Democrat lies on global warming, life has meaning other that as a slave of the commie Democrat redistribution state.

In a country the size of California with the population of North Carolina, the Swedes have 10 operating reactors and two held in reserve. Combined with its ample hydro, this gives Sweden 90 percent “clean energy” with almost no fossil fuels.

Dog Eater doesn’t know anything about Sweden, so why even ask. He probably made a callow joke about the way they talk “Erkta berga bergen berga”, noticed no one was laughing, and proceeded to say how much he loved the Minnesota Vikings.

Ah yes, Sweden. Nowhere it is mentioned that this paragon of healthcare virtue has a local tax rate of 30-33% AND a VAT tax of 24%. It’s been almost 20 years since I left Sweden but I don’t think that has changed.

The French make fun of the Swedes because they lack style. They also lack the disposable income to buy costly clothing, and mostly wear sweatpants and the like.

In a country the size of California with the population of North Carolina, the Swedes have 10 operating reactors and two held in reserve. Combined with its ample hydro, this gives Sweden 90 percent “clean energy” with almost no fossil fuels. As for solar panels and windmills, there aren’t any in sight. Of course no one in the press is mentioning this.

With most of the country above 60 degrees North latitude and lots of mountains, the Swedes figured out a long time ago that they could get more juice out of snowmelt flowing downhill than from sunshine.

Meanwhile, the Norwegians have been funding their welfare system on all that evil, carbon-belching oil, and are just fine with that.

Speaking of water flowing downhill, when will California send some into the Central Valley at the price of a few delta smelts? They could learn something from the Swedes…

Speaking of water flowing downhill, when will California send some into the Central Valley at the price of a few delta smelts? They could learn something from the Swedes…

Nah, Sacramento loves the idea of the Central Valley reverting back to its natural arid and water deprived condition. Heck, those valley farmers and ranchers were mostly Republican anyway and won’t be missed when their enterprises are belly up and dust in the wind and they all move on to other states.